Inside Your Heart
by MyRawrIsSoft
Summary: Ron and Harry leave Hermione behind after they tell her they don't know who they are anymore or what they're supposed to do now that the war is over. How will she cope with being left behind?
1. The Dropped Letter

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. They all belong to J.K. Rowling who is absolutely amazing for writing the brilliant Harry Potter series. I do, however, own the plot line and in some later chapters, characters you will not recognize. **

**I will stop talking now, and let you read the chapter(: Enjoy.**

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><p>"<em>Ronald! Harry!" I yelled outside through the tears. I couldn't believe they had just left me.<em>

I had been having trouble sleeping that night, like most nights, and heard voices downstairs. So naturally I got up to check it out.

When I reached the bottom step and walked towards the kitchen, where the voice were coming from, I saw Ron and Harry standing near the kitchen table, writing something down in the dark with light illuminating from their wands. When they heard me they looked up and their eyes went wide. My eyes wandered down to the piece of parchment and then to the bags on the floor that were stuffed full.

"Where do you think you two are going?" I asked, barely above a whisper.

"Hermione, er, we were-uh-" Ron started to say.

"You were leaving weren't you? Without me. Without even telling me! You were just going to leave and leave me here; even after everything we've been through." I said, my voice rising slightly.

"'Mione, it's not like that." Ron said, trying to walk towards me.

"It's exactly like that Ron! Don't you dare try to lie to me. I thought that after the war we could all just relax for once and be friends without having to worry about getting killed or about Harry never coming back to us."

"Hermione," Harry said, "Keep your voice down. Everyone else is still sleeping."

I glared at Harry, "I thought we were going to stick together until the end."

"Hermione- you have your whole life planned out, you know who you are and you know that you want to be a Healer. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't even know who I am anymore."

"Harry- you're still Harry. You haven't just changed overnight." I told him, my voice becoming softer.

"But that's exactly what it feels like now that I've defeated Voldemort."

"So what are you going to do?" I asked, tears forming in my eyes. By this point I knew that I wouldn't be able to stop them, but I had to try. I had to. I couldn't just let my two best friends leave me.

"I- I don't know."

"Oh well that's brilliant. Wandering off in the world on your own-"

"He isn't going alone 'Mione." Ron interrupted me.

"Without a proper plan- it's suicide. There's still deatheaters out there Harry. The ministry hasn't caught them all." I continued, ignoring Ron.

"Hermione, we'll be fine. I promise you."

"No Harry."

"What?" both he and Ron asked surprised.

"I said no. You can't promise that you'll be fine."

"I don't break my promises."

"Harry- that isn't a promise that you can exactly keep, you never know what might happen. You could fall ill or anything!" I shrieked, desperate.

"Fine- go up and pack your stuff. Like you said, we'll always stick together."

"Blimey Harry, have you gone mad?" Ron asked.

"Oh shut up Ron." I told him, a smile tugging on my lips knowing that our friendship would last. I told them not to move and went to go up the stairs to pack my stuff. I was only on the third step when I heard Ron and Harry quickly moving. I paused, knowing that they weren't actually going to leave me. Who would be so silly as to sneak out on someone when they were still there? I went up two more steps when I saw them go out of the kitchen and quickly run to the door with their bags firmly in hand.

"How dare you!" I yelled at them.

Harry dropped the piece of paper on the floor and both he and Ron ran outside as I followed quickly behind them, but before I could do anything they had disappeared and I was standing outside in the cold, dark night with tears streaking my face.

"Ronald! Harry!" I yelled outside through the tears as if my yelling would make them come back. I couldn't believe they had just left me. Especially after everything we'd all been through. We had never abandoned each other. Not once. Yet here they were leaving me here at the Burrow- and it wasn't only me they were leaving. They were leaving all their other friends behind.

I crumpled up on the ground, hugging my knees to my chest, crying- no sobbing would be the word. I had just lost my two best friends who knew everything about me, who were always there for me. But obviously things had changed after the war. Of course it was obvious; I was just trying so hard to make everything between us go back to normal, but normal wasn't something we were exactly used to.

After what felt like eternity I finally picked myself from off the ground and went back inside the Burrow. When I closed the door I saw the note that Harry had dropped and slowly bent down to pick it up. On the folded piece of parchment my name was written in Harry's handwriting. I quickly unfolded it and read.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Please don't hate us for what we are about to do to you. Ron thought it best if we wrote you a separate note explaining ourselves a little bit more. We're only leaving because we feel like we've lost meaning in who we are. Especially me- 'Mione, you know better than anyone what I've tried to do to keep the world safe from Voldemort and now that he's been destroyed I don't know what my purpose in life is anymore. I know you're probably thinking to yourself that I've always wanted to be a normal kid- to do normal stuff, but I don't even know where to begin. _

_I talked to Ron and we decided it would be best to get away from everyone for awhile. I would have asked you, but you know what you want to do. You already have most of your life planned out. I know you were expecting Ron and me to be a part of it, but for right now we're going to leave you be._

_I hope you understand 'Mione and I know that even if you don't you'll try to, because that's just the kind of person you are. You want to learn to understand and I know that you'll be fine on your own without us. It might be weird in the beginning, but know that life will go on without us. _

_With love,_

_Harry and Ron_

_P.s.- Hermione go and do what you love and what you know is right. We'll miss you, buddy._

_ -Ron_

I dropped the letter to the ground and the tears started again. I ran up the steps and all the way up to Ron's bedroom where Harry was staying with him. I figured it was just a nasty joke that they were playing. A very, very nasty joke. But when I reached their bedroom reality finally sunk in. They really had left me.

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><p><strong>Hope you liked this! It's a tad different and I don't think (or at least I would like to think) that Ron and Harry would never leave Hermione behind, but they had to for this story or else it wouldn't have worked out the way I wanted it too. Please tell me what you thought and if I made any mistakes. Thanks!<strong>

**-Kathleen**


	2. A Lunch Date

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the story line. Everything else is thanks to the wonderful and amazing writer J.K. Rowling. But believe me- I would love to be her right now. Enjoy the story now!**

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><p>Chapter Two<p>

A couple days have passed since Ron and Harry left. I mostly shut myself up in Ginny's room, where I am currently staying. The day they left and the day after, I wouldn't leave the front door. I was hoping that they'd come straight back and either say their idea was stupid or ask me to go with them. Well, that didn't happen and I convinced myself I was being silly.

Well, today I have shut myself up in Ginny's room again. She's a bit down, but not as much as I am. Her brother did leave her- but as far as she was concerned he was a pain. As for Harry- she had told me it wasn't going to work out and that she had started dating Dean again. At first I was shocked, Ginny had been crushing on him since she was a little girl and it seemed as if now she was completely disregarding that fact. I didn't know how to respond so all I did was give her a small, reassuring smile. She told me that this morning and a little while later she had left to spend the day with Dean.

I was happy that I would be left alone to my thoughts. The twins were at their joke shop, Mrs. Weasley was in Diagon Alley buying supplies and Mr. Weasley was at work. I was sitting down in my makeshift bed with my back against the wall as I read one of my many books that I hadn't touched over the summer because I had been so busy with my Healer training.

I don't know how long I was in my room reading, but eventually I heard someone knocking softly on the bedroom door.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's me, Fred." The twin said.

I stood up and went to open the door, "Yea?"

"Do you want to join me and George for lunch somewhere?" he asked me.

I tilted my head as I studied Fred. We were never really close and we'd never hung out before, but I agreed anyways, "Sure that sounds nice. It'll be nice to get out of the house for a bit."

Fred laughed, "Hermione you could've just gone outside."

"It's been raining since this morning." I told him, as I followed him out of Ginny's room to downstairs where Fred grabbed my wrist and Apparated.

When I felt ground under my feet again, I felt much better and gave Fred a dirty look. I did not like to Apparate, it was just uncomfortable.

"Come on." He said, ignoring me and started to walk down a crowded street.

"Fred!" I called, trying to get him to slow down. He was walking too fast for me and I was barely able to keep up. In fact, at one point I thought I had lost him, but I was able to see a head of ginger hair and jogged up to him. "Will you slow down!" I tried yelling at him.

Either he was ignoring me or didn't hear me, I don't know, but I continued jogging until we arrived at a small pub. Fred opened the door and let me walk in before him. My eyes instantly fell upon a red headed guy sitting by himself closer to the back. Before I could point out to Fred that it might be George, he began walking towards the table.

This time I made sure to keep up with him and when we arrived at the table I was greeted with a friendly smile from George. I smiled back as I took my seat next to Fred and across from George in the booth.

Instantly a waiter came up and asked what we would like to drink. After we ordered and he went to get them, there was an awkward silence at the table.

Not knowing what else to talk about, I carefully asked, "So how is business going?"

"It has been doing really good lately. There's always a customer in the shop." George told me with a smile on his face.

"Are you working on anything new?" I asked again. I knew they liked to experiment with different things and even though in Hogwarts I had always tried to get them into trouble, I was curious.

"Loads of experiments going on right now- one of the new products are being tested actually, just in case it backfires on us or something." Fred said.

I smiled as they began to tell me about some of their new inventions. They wouldn't tell me about all of them because they didn't want someone to steal their idea if they were eavesdropping. I nodded my head understandingly. They had earned their money and it would be wrong for anyone to try and steal something they had worked so hard on.

Throughout the meal we talked about different things. Towards the end of lunch though, my happiness began to wear off, but I kept the smile on my face. I didn't want the twins to think I wasn't enjoying their happiness, because quite truthfully, I was having a lot of fun.

As we left and Fred Apparated me back to the Burrow, an idea hit me. I quickly ran up to Ginny's room, yelling another thanks to both the twins. I took the steps three at a time, trying to reach the room as fast as I could. Once I was in I noticed that Ginny wasn't back yet. I made my way over to my bag sitting against the wall on the left side and grabbed some parchment, ink and a quill.

I was going to write to Viktor. It'd been awhile since I had written and I figured it would help me keep my mind off of Ron and Harry. It worked, but it didn't last long.

I had written three pages and was just signing my name, when Ginny came bursting through the door with a huge grin plastered on her face. I gave her a questioning look, but instead of answering she blissfully sighed and fell onto her bed. Ignoring her, I went downstairs to get my owl, Snow so I could send my letter off with him.

As I was tying the letter around her foot, Mrs. Weasley walked into the kitchen with arms full of bags. Quickly sending Snow away, I went to help the witch and realized that all the bags were filled to the brim with food.

"Is there a special occasion?" I asked her.

"No my dear, I just thought that since Bill, Fleur and Victoire were coming over tonight I would make something special." She told me as she began to sort out the food into various groups. I decided not to assist her on this take, knowing that she had her way with doing certain things.

"Well, would you like any help?" I asked, I wanted to remain busy, so I couldn't think about anything but the task in front of me.

"Of course dear! That would be excellent." She exclaimed as she began to give me directions on what to do.

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><p><strong>Sorry it took so long to update this story! I've been having some major writers block on everything I try to update, that's why most of my stories haven't been updated in awhile. But, I did get it up(: Thumbs up? But again, I'm really sorry it took so long. I'm hoping it won't take as long to get the next chapter up. But seeing as I've started school, I can't make any guarantees. But, just enjoy this new chapter I got up.<strong>

**-Kathleen **


	3. Run Ins

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the story line. Everything else is thanks to the wonderful and amazing writer J.K. Rowling. But believe me- I would love to be her right now.**

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><p>Chapter Three: Run Ins<p>

An hour and a half later dinner was almost ready. Bill, Fleur and Victoire had already arrived and were in the sitting room with everyone else. I was in the kitchen helping out Mrs. Weasley. We were only doing the final touches on the food as the rest of the clan waited. As I was just putting the last fork on the very long table, Mrs. Weasley spoke.

"You can go tell everyone supper is ready."

I gave her a small smile, "Will do." I walked into the living room and saw that everyone was playing around with each other and having a good time.

"Hey guys- who's hungry?" I asked. Immediately the twins, Bill and Dean jumped up exclaiming that they were absolutely famished and ready to eat. I shook my head at them while I tried to hide a smile and step out of their way as they wrestled their way into the kitchen. Ginny and Fleur were watching the boys as little Victoire sat on the floor with wide eyes.

"Come on darling." Fleur said in her French accent as she picked up the small child and followed the boys into the kitchen.

Only Ginny remained and she hadn't made an attempt to move from her spot. I was waiting patiently for her to get up and figured she would do so. However, she was looking at me strangely and I felt very self conscience.

"Come on Ginny. I know you're quite hungry too." I told her and walked into the kitchen, not being able to stand the strange look she was giving me.

I looked around the table to see that only a spot next to Dean and Fred were open. I figured Ginny would want to sit next to her boyfriend, so I made my way next to Fred and took a seat. Only a few moments later and Ginny walked in, taking her place next to Dean. When the food was being passed around and piled on top of the plates, I fell into a mood. I took less than what I normally would have and when someone started to ask me questions, I answered in short little sentences. Fred tried to make me laugh but I couldn't force it out. And as soon as I was done, I left placing my plate in the sink and telling the people at the table that I had something to attend to.

I flew up the steps and grabbed my jacket, scarf and wand along with my extendable purse, which I hadn't un-charmed after the run with Ron and Harry. It was very convenient to have the charm because it meant that whenever I needed to leave in a hurry- I had whatever I needed. I quickly tugged on a sweater and placed the scarf around my neck before I went back down the steps and out the door, where the Weasley's still sat eating.

As soon as I took three steps away from the house I began to run. The chilly air hitting my cheeks made me feel alive as I began to run even faster. I was trying to get away from everything I had known. I needed my parents now and I hadn't seen them in ages. I didn't know if that was where I was going though. I was going to let my feet guide me.

I continued walking down a worn out path and towards a road which I knew was close by. However, as soon as I reached the back that rarely anyone came on, I felt as if I needed to be in London. Closing my eyes, I imagined the city I had come to love and Apparated. I appeared in front of the Leaky Cauldron but instead of walking in; I quickly turned around and headed down the street. I knew exactly where I wanted to be now and why I had such a yearning to be there. I wanted to be alone with a bunch of books surrounding me so I could forget reality.

When I arrived at my destination, I was about to open the door when a man opened it and accidently knocked into me. He dropped the bagged books on the ground and quickly I began to apologize.

"I'm so sorry sir. I didn't mean to knock into you." I told him, as I gathered some of the books that had fallen out. As I picked them up, I realized that most were topics that I had not read about before and made a mental note to check them out.

"It's my entire fault miss, I should have been looking where I was going. I was just excited." The man told me and as we both stood up and I went to hand him back his belongings, I froze. In front of me was no other than Viktor Krum. Instantly his whole face lit up and he pulled me in for a hug. "Hermione." He said and pronounced my name right, unlike all those other times during fourth year. "It's great to see you."

"You as well Viktor." I told him. "May I ask why you are here in London?" I asked, as I surveyed him. He looked just as handsome as he did when we had met at Hogwarts, if not better- if that was possible..

"I received your letter and thought that maybe we could catch up, to be honest." He told me, with a small smile on his face.

"I would love to!" I exclaimed, all thoughts of wanting to be alone in the bookshop gone.

"Great." He smiled. "How bout we spend the rest of the day together?" he asked, as he offered his arm to me.

"I would love that actually." I told him, as I grabbed his arm and we started walking down the busy streets of London.

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><p><strong>AN: Hey guys! So sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I had major writers block and I wasn't sure how to continue from Chapter Two. But, I hope you like this chapter anyways and aren't to mad at me for the long wait. On the same note, I have already planned out most of what is to happen in Chapter Four, it's just the matter of being able to type it up. And when I'll be able to post it. You see, I'll be going to the beach again soon- which should give me an opportunity to write, but I will not be able to post anything new.**

**On a different note though, I am working on three more stories with Hermione as the main character. In two she will be traveling back in time- one is a pairing that I don't really like because it would never be a possibility (but hey! it is fanfiction) and the other pairing- I'm actually a huge sucker for. The third story takes place a little after the war, and like this story, it will be a Hermione/George pairing. However, I would like to get a few chapters done with that story so I'll be able to spread out posting and writing(: **

**Have a great morning/afternoon/evening/night(:**

**-Kathleen**


	4. In Time

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the story line. Everything else, the characters, spells, and all of HP, is thanks to the wonderful and incredible J.K. Rowling.**

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><p>Chapter Four<p>

It was dark when Krum and I Apparated near the Burrow. Even though the war had ended, there were still spells in place to protect the Weasley's house and themselves. I tried to reassure Viktor that he didn't need to walk me to the front door, but he insisted on doing so. Eventually I gave up persuading him, rolling my eyes as we linked arms and made our way along the worn pathway. He kept me laughing during the short walk and I was grateful for the night to keep my mind off Ron and Harry.

We were about to say our goodbyes when the door slammed open.

"There you are Hermione!" Fred, or at least I thought it was Fred, exclaimed.

"We were starting to worry about you." George, or was it Fred, appeared next to his twin.

I quickly introduced Viktor, knowing that I wouldn't be able to do so when the twins were apart. I also didn't know when I'd have another opportunity to spare their feelings if I did get them mixed up. "Erhm, Viktor this is Fred and George. I'm sure you came across them during the TriWizard Tournament."

Viktor offered his hand and gave the twins firm handshakes. "Not hard to forget those who made an aging potion to place their names in the Cup." He said, acknowledging both the twins with a bemused smile at the memory.

"Ah, yes, well there were a few small calculations we didn't properly analyze." Fred, or maybe it was George told him.

"Well, I hate to end your night here, but mum is-"

"Having a fit of worry over you, Hermione." The other Weasley twin finished his brother's sentence.

I turned to Viktor. "It was great to see you after all this time. I'll see you around."

"Of course." Viktor told me, lifting my hand and giving it a soft kiss before turning his back and walking to beyond the boundaries so he could Apparate. I gave a small smile.

"Oi!"

"Earth to 'Mione!"

Two hands waved in front of my face, trying to gain my attention. I turned around to face the twins and flashed them a smile before walking past them into the warm house. It was nice to meet up from someone who I hadn't seen in a couple of years.

"Hermione! Where have you been?" Mrs. Weasley's voice boomed.

I couldn't help but flinch a bit at her voice and the underlying tone of how worried she truly was. I turned to face her. She had both hands on her hips and she was giving me look that demanded an explanation.

"Sorry Mrs. Weasley, but I ran into an old friend of mine and we lost track of time trying to catch up on the last couple of years."

Mrs. Weasley's face softened and I let out a sigh of relief. Behind me, I heard both the twins laugh.

"Well, as long as you're all right I see no harm in forgetting to give me a little notice." She told me and walked back into the living room.

Everyone was a little more protective of me since Harry and Ron left. I knew they were worried that I would try and follow behind or that I would completely shut myself off from everyone.

A hand on each my shoulder brought my attention back to the present.

"All right 'Mione?" one of the twins asked.

"I really need to learn the two of you apart." I told them.

They both laughed.

"In time you will, but until then-"

"Fred." The Weasley twin on my left informed me.

"Which leaves me to be George." The red-headed twin on my right told me.

They both held mischievous grins on their faces, but at this time, it was greatly welcomed.

"You may just find your way into this group of ours." George laughed.

"I may just be looking forward to that." I smiled, taking off my jacket and following Fred and George upstairs. Not knowing what to expect, I kept an opened mind.

I may have lost Ron and Harry just a couple of days ago, but Fred and George were offering their company to me. An offer I was not likely to refuse.

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><p><strong>AN: Short chapter I know, but I didn't want to ramble on. I wanted to get the point that George and Fred now feel slightly responsible for Hermione across. I know I haven't updated in forever, but I just recently found the chapter I had started working on. Ironically, I changed all of it pretty much. I really didn't like the starting of the chapter. **

**Reviews would be appreciated though.  
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**Kathleen xx  
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